The right to liberty of asylum-seekers and the European Court of Human Rights in the aftermath of the 2015 refugee crisis

Abstract

In the context of the 2015 refugee crisis, European States have pushed for tighter migration control policies by, inter alia, extending and toughening the practice of detaining asylum-seekers. The aim of this study is to assess how the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) constrains this worrisome practice. Does it grant States the same margin of appreciation as in other migration-related judgments, or does it adopt a more active role in protecting asylum-seekers’ right to liberty? To answer this question, this study analyses the case law of the ECtHR after 2015 on the subject and evaluates it in the light of the relevant international human rights treaties, European Union law and scholarly opinion. In doing so, it especially seeks to identify any changes in the Court´s case law that might indicate a reaction of the Strasbourg Court to the political tensions of the refugee crisis.